Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday posted a 5.95 percent monthly decline in consolidated revenue to NT$550.89 billion (US$19.76 billion) for last month, as industry-wide component shortages caused a slowdown in production.

However, demand remains healthy, Hon Hai said.

Last month’s revenue was down 10.07 percent from a year earlier.

“People are waiting in line to buy our customers’ products,” the company said. “Demand is still there, and we see the parts-shortage crisis turning a corner.”

Revenue in the first 10 months of the year rose 17.53 percent to NT$4.655 trillion over the same period last year, hitting a historical high.

In terms of Hon Hai’s four main product groups, cloud and networking products grew the most month-on-month, followed by smart consumer electronics, components and computing products, Hon Hai said.

In terms of annual growth, components led the growth, followed by consumer electronics, cloud computing and computing products.

Monthly computing products sales might also have weakened in comparison to September’s back-to-school bump, the company said, adding that its “cautiously optimistic” projections for the fourth quarter are holding.

“We have not heard as much news about the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam or Malaysia, and no news is good news,” the company said.